RA Pro Tips: How to Get Ahead of Morning Stiffness and Pain
Of the many things that are hard about living with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), one of the most dispiriting is perhaps the inability to start the day with any sort of brightness and flair. Upon waking, there’s that split second of looking forward to the new day before you’re hit with the anticipatory freeze while you…
Your Must-Watch List of Disability-Friendly Movies
Movies and television reflect our lives, but when they don’t show all of us — or worse, cast other people to play a particular group — it strengthens stereotype and discrimination. In my latest column for HealthCentral, I dive into disability in the movies and add a list of my favourites: “When I watch movies…
COVID Diary: The Kindness of Strangers
We live in strange times in everyday life has become a difficult. COVID-19 has revealed the of the underbelly of a lot of things in our society, but the pandemic has also shown just how wonderful people can be. If you need a reminder of the good in the world, check out my new column…
How to Listen to Your Body When You’re Not on Speaking Terms
One of the hardest things about living with rheumatoid arthritis is listening to your body, yet it is an essential part of breaking the overdoing it-crashing-overdoing it cycle. I wrote about this in my new article for HealthCentral: “I live with an absolute jerk. She bosses me around, every day telling me what I can…
Serendipity or I Have An Agent!
I am thrilled to announce that I’ve recently signed with Cecilia Lyra from The Rights Factory! She is an amazing person and a fantastic agent, coach, and cheerleader and I couldn’t be happier working with her. Our first project together is a book proposal for a memoir of chronic illness and disability. It’s my story…
Plan for the Curveball to Live Well with RA
When rheumatoid arthritis (RA) makes everything in your life uncertain, you can count on one thing: any plans you’ve had the audacity to make dispersing in the air as if hit by a magic spell. To paraphrase John Lennon, chronic illness is what happens when you make any plans. And when it happens often enough,…
How I Deal With RA Brain Fog
Brain fog. It’s a common symptom for many who have chronic illness and chronic pain. But exactly what is it and how the heck do you deal with in mind that all of a sudden doesn’t function the way it used to? In my new column for HealthCentral, I share my own experience with brain fog…
Can the Mediterranean Diet Help Your RA? A Famer’s Market Tour with The Arthritis Dietitian
Could your rheumatoid arthritis (RA) respond to diet? The research jury is out on most except the Mediterranean diet, also called the anti-inflammatory diet. Filled with colorful vegetables, pulses (beans and lentils), and healthy fats, this way of eating isn’t just good for your body, it’s a feast for the eyes, as well. Join…
What Disability Pride Means to Me
This month is Disability Pride Month and this year, it’s getting traction! What is it and why is it important? Read my new column on HealthCentral: “I know a lot of women whose rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has affected their hands, and it has taken a social toll. I see them hiding their hands under the…
Fine-Tune Your Goals and Up-Level Your Impact for Bloggers, Writers, Dreamers, and Chronic Illness Advocates
We become bloggers, writers, and advocates in the hope that our unique message will find an audience, one that will hopefully grow. Some do it as a passionate side thing, others as an equally passionate way to make a living that actually means something. And every single one of us have to figure it all…
My Body Can Beat Your Weather Radar
Photo credit: David Govoni Every single person I know who has chronic pain response whether. Get any of us together in a room and the conversation will inevitably turn to have the current weather is making us feel. Exactly how this is in which kind of weather makes it worse, can differ from person to…
I’m Nominated for the #WEGOHealthAwards!
I am beyond thrilled to be nominated in the WEGO Health Awards in two categories — Best in Show: Community and Hilarious Patient Leader. I don’t know who nominated me, but both of these absolutely made my day when I got the news. Thank you to the nominators and thank you to all of you….